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[pepperminty]

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-hp6rr-e00017?utm_campaign=embed_player_stop&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=embed_player


Hi ladies , pod cast about progesterone  link above -

In this podcast, Dr Louise Newson is speaking to Professor Jim Simon, a Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Reproductive Endocrinology at George Washington University in Washington DC.

Dr Newson and Professor Simon talk about the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study and more specifically about the different types of progestogens and progesterone. He clearly describes and explains how body identical progesterone is the safest to take as well as the benefits women often experience when taking body identical progesterone. Jim also explores and explains the evidence regarding the reported risks of breast cancer with HRT and he and Dr Newson also talk about how important it is that women receive the best care and treatment during their menopausal years.

Professor Jim Simon's Three Take Home Tips:

Listen to your own body - it will tell you the truth! Address each of your symptoms with a healthcare profession and know your treatment options. Your symptoms are not 'a right of passage' that you have to put up with.
You are likely to live a very long life, take the big picture into account and try to practice preventive medicine.
Remember that whatever you decide on with your healthcare professional, doesn't have to be for the rest of your life. Make the best choice for you today and live it out until things change - you can always make a different choice if it's warranted tomorrow.

PMxx

[Wrensong]

Thank you Pepperminty.  Another interesting & useful medical expert podcast in the Newson Health series.

Even for women like me, who unfortunately can't tolerate the micronised progesterone now so widely advocated as the gold standard, this is well worth a listen for the broader messages Prof Simon has about women's post-reproductive health & HRT in general.  His clear, explanatory style & his perspective from a background in reproductive endocrinology help make reassuring sense of the terminology & some of the biological processes associated with HRT, as well as making a persuasive case for its benefits in safeguarding against the long term consequences of hormone deficiency.

[pepperminty]

Thanks Wrensong,

couldn't have put it better! Cannot remember what regime if any you are on? Have you found anything you can manage ?

 I do not think I am intolerant of progesterone- as I fair ok on dygesterone ( I so wish they would bring Duphaston back as it has a really good safety record).

PMxx

[Wrensong]

Currently trialling FemSeven Conti, Pepperminty, but have worked my way through all forms of progesterone inc the Levonorgestrel in this current preparation, but at the higher dose they put in FemSeven Sequi & years ago.  Seemed worth a retrial as all out of options otherwise & now way postmenopause the lower proportion of progestogen taken daily might just work out to be OK.

Glad to know you are OK on Dydrogesterone  .  Agree that if it were available separately it would be so helpful in providing another option to try with the various oestrogen-only preps.  Fingers crossed efforts to reinstate it come to fruition.

[pepperminty]

Hi Wrensong,

yes even though it says unavaiable , it is available. Are you getting on ok with it so far? Have you been on it long?  I do hope it works out for you. I think it is in the mirena coil also.
When I had the mirena- I had no side effects except my legs swelled up , like tree trunks, so they took it out. I had no explanation or indeed was not told that my heavy bleeding was peimenopause and no offer of HRT. ( didn't know what it was really or that the mirena was a progesterone! ). That was after 4 months and they never mentioned that it may settle. It was a mare getting it in though- even under a general A. 

Our tolerance does change and what once did not work may now for you.

I am considering going to my MP and asking that he campaigns to get Duphaston back. Lets face it one more safe option would mean more ladies able to carry on a decent quality of life.

Personally it would mean that i could go transdermal without worrying that I have to get through trialling another progetserone.  Goodness knows how us ladies manage to work, run a home and try to get the HRT sorted.
Louise Newson's mum , said that she was given a tablet and it made her feel better and she had no idea it was HRT! Then the scare came and she refused to come off as it was quality of life.

And then they realised that it is safe to use etc.

I suspect that the incidents of osteoporosis and I know alzhemiers has increased since the HRT scare- coincidence?

I try and remeber that there are lots of ladies out there doing really well and that helps.

PMXX

[Wrensong]

Yes, Levonorgestrel is in Mirena too, but have always avoided that as can't contemplate having a device fitted I can't remove myself.  Given my body goes nuts with prog ., especially Utrogestan, I need to be able to control what I'm taking.  Also, smears are an absolute b*gger at this age - they can never find my cervix  , so anyone brandishing an IUD in my direction is likely to leave quicker than they expected & with my teeth marks in their arm 

The leg swelling sounds scary & very uncomfortable.

I am considering going to my MP and asking that he campaigns to get Duphaston back.

  Didn't someone post on here a little while back that's being pursued already?  I had in mind it was you?!

I suspect that the incidents of osteoporosis and I know alzhemiers has increased since the HRT scare- coincidence?

  Unlikely to be coincidence with osteoporosis, but Alzheimers they seem less sure about.  That said, it's a fear I have for the future if I have to stop HRT as my memory is better on it & frankly it scared me how bad it was at times before HRT.

Do you feel you need to come off Femoston because it's oral then?

[pepperminty]

You did make me laugh

Yes I had tried previously with calls and letters , but it got no where. And others here were very proactive too!

I am aiming to scare my MP into doing something, when I feel more up to it.

I have never been great on femosten. It is the joints and muscles that siezed up, but the brain fog and anxiety went. So I decided that I would put up with the aches. But now they have ramped up. I do not seem to be able to get to the 2/10 dose without uncontrolable anxiety and poor mood.

I feel that I probably need testosterone, to help with my meno symptoms also but as my SHBG is sky high - caused by the oral HRT I think - and  T is not recomended to take it whilst using the tablets.

I would have tried another regime earlier, but I can't afford to be off work- when I started Femosten I was in a right 2 and 8 - took months to get stable.

I know I need a higher dose.

When I started my HRT journey , I was clueless and I was put on  premapac and the premarin was a miracle drug for me - I stopped limping overnight and was as bright as a button. But the progesterone part drove me insane.

PMXX

[Wrensong]

Yes I had tried previously with calls and letters , but it got no where. And others here were very proactive too!

  Oh, how frustrating is that?  The powerlessness we can feel regarding all things menopause can be such a downer.  Shouldn't be this way.   Good luck with the MP.

What's left for you to try that's transdermal?  I hear you on the work situation.  What a dilemma, but you need to be well.

Yes, I've heard some women feel so much better on Premarin, but must be a difficult choice in that case, given its origins.
Wx

[pepperminty]

Hi, I haven't tried utro yet , or provera.

The majority of women before the scare were given Premarin and just took it, knowing that they felt better. It was the go to HRT . But then we all just tended to do exactly what the doctors recomended without research or questions.

My philosophy is to try not to judge, I suspect that there are women out there on it who are afraid to say for fear of condemnation.

PMXX

[Wrensong]

My philosophy is to try not to judge, I suspect that there are women out there on it who are afraid to say for fear of condemnation.

  I agree.

You have a couple of options for prog then, plus the range of oestrogen alternatives.  Hope you find a way of progressing without it causing work probs for you.
Wx

[pepperminty]

Thank you,

it is a long journey, infact life long!  .  Yes options are there - along with the hormonal anxiety around change! 

But I for one loke yourself would like to be as healthy as possible as we are all living longer.

PMxx

[rae123]

I am considering going to my MP and asking that he campaigns to get Duphaston back.

  Didn't someone post on here a little while back that's being pursued already?  I had in mind it was you?!

Hi, apparently we can get Duphaston in the UK again now. ChelWest have just prescribed it for me after my Utrogestan nightmare.  My hospital prescription was filled by the local chemist, who didn't seem to have any problems ordering it.

[Wrensong]

Hi rae123, that's very interesting, thanks for posting  .  I had a quick google & came up with the following from Chelwest's MENOPAUSE AND PREMENSTRUAL SYNDROME SERVICE GUIDELINES (2018-June 2021)

https://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/services/womens-health-services/gynaecology-services/menopause-and-pms-clinics/links/CWMENOPAUSEPMSguidelines2014v3.2.pdf

"Duphaston
(Dydrogesterone)
Unlicensed drug
 Biologically similar in action to naturel progesterone
 Not available in the UK but licensed in Europe and safety data still
justifies continued use
 Available on a named patient basis only via pharmacy, for women with
severe progestogen intolerance"

I hope you get on well with it.  Please let us know how it goes.
Wx

[pepperminty]

Thank you for posting rae123 

Well that is interesting- so you can get it if presecribed by a specialist if you are progesterone intolerant. - If I am reading it correctly?

It is a cheap drug - so they can't use the excuse of it is too expensive, and considering tat it has a good safety data and widely available elsewhere.

I wonder if other specialists are aware that they can prescribe it? Thanks for copying the relevant bit wrensong.

This bit of info could be very useful for some ladies.

Perhaps we should do a seperate titled post with this information on also- as it gives one more option for those on here to try?

PMXX

[CherrySG]

Thank you for posting this, Pepperminty! It's made me feel a lot more comfortable with taking HRT long term.